Under Fire, Museum to Stop Importing White Whales|海生館白鯨僅存3隻 未來將不再引進

Starting 16 years ago, Pingtung's National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium has brought 10 white whales in from Russia. However, only three have survived to date. To prevent further controversies, the museum has decided to stop importing and artificially breeding white whales.


Museum workers periodically examine the white whales with medical instruments. They also interact with them during feeding time. Since 2002, the museum has procured 10 white whales from Russia. Unfortunately, only three have survived. The other seven died of illness, fright or eating disorders. Under fire from animal protection groups, the museum has decided to stop importing protected marine mammals from the wild that would be solely used for exhibitions. It will also stop trying to artificially breed white whales.

(Apart from no longer importing whales), we will no longer try to artificially breed white whales with the white whales we currently have. We are making these changes primarily to fulfill our whale conservation responsibility.

The museum's white whales are around 25 years old, which is 50-some in human years. While white whales have lived to the age of 40 in other countries, museum officials do not expect the ones in Taiwan to survive that long. When its whales die, the museum will replace them with a new interactive exhibition.

(I still prefer them). Children will always be more interesting in seeing actual whales.

The museum says the new interactive zone will be educational and feature research data collected over the past 16 years, including audio and video.